Will You Wait?
by Otaku Asylum
Summary: Squirrelpaw has disappeared, leaving Shrewpaw cold and longing for her familiar warmth. Shrew/Squirrel one-shot


**This would be my first ever one-shot. ^^ Also probably one of my favorites, right after my Fallen/Holly one. I hope you enjoy. And I would appreciate a few reviews.**

It had begun simply, just an apprentice hood crush. On the flame-colored she-cat with forest green eyes, filled with the same fire as her pelt. He had just shared fresh-kill with her, a pheasant. She was just being friendly. But he saw so much more in her warm leaf-green eyes.

Shrewpaw had noticed the meaningful glances from Whitepaw; she was interested in him. But her affection slid off of him, like water off of a pebble. He wasn't interested in her cold white pelt. He was more interested in Squirrelpaw.

Then, one night, the fire disappeared. Shrewpaw woke up and he instantly felt the absence of her distinct warmth. He looked around the den, his still half-asleep mind racing. As sleep slowly let him out of its grip, he tried to remember if she had been assigned a morning patrol. Shrewpaw scanned the den, but he could only see the snow colored pelt of Whitepaw and his brother's black back curled up next to him.

He stretched, trying to calm himself. There was no reason to panic. She was probably just on a patrol. But Shrewpaw couldn't shake the nagging suspicion that he'd missed something.

As the sun rose higher into the sky, he felt the lump in his belly churn as he came back to camp from a border patrol. The news reached him then, told to him by his brother's mentor, Mousefur. Squirrelpaw had apparently gone missing, along with one of the warriors, Bramblelcaw.

Shrewpaw hid his fear about both the daughter of Firestar and the son of Tigerstar to be missing from camp at the same time. And again when Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw didn't turn up.

Shrewpaw found solace in Whitepaw, thankful for her cooling white fur to numb his inner turmoil. But he continued to long for the warm fire of Squirrelpaw.

The Twoleg destruction came next. Shrewpaw looked on in disbelief as his home was demolished, like a cat burying his dirt. When the clan was forced to take shelter at Sunningrocks, the small dusky brown tom had lost hope of ever seeing her fire again.

Then, when he least expected it, a breeze carried her scent, the intoxicating aroma weaving around his body, tempting him to hope. He turned, almost timidly, and found what his amber eyes had long been searching for, the dark fire of her pelt. He nearly flew to her, vaguely aware of Whitepaw following closely behind. Shrewpaw welcomed her back, trying his best to act like she hadn't been haunting his thoughts for almost two moons.

The dusky brown apprentice showed Squirrelpaw around what could loosely be called a 'camp.' He rested his tail tip on her shoulder, comforting her when they encountered Ferncloud, her ribs obvious beneath her gray flecked pelt, trying desperately to for Hollykit and Birchkit to eat fresh-kill, and gave her a comforting lick when they saw the sorry state of the elders; their thin pelts clinging to bone.

Later that night, Shrewpaw cleared a space for her next to him. He shivered when her ginger fur met with his brown at their backs. When he opened his eyes in the middle of the night, he was sure he had dreamed the entire thing. Squirrelpaw really was gone forever, and he was hopelessly holding onto her chances of return. But when he awoke, he felt her fire next to him, gently licking the fur on his back. Then, he realized, she was shaking, as if from a nightmare. Shrewpaw quickly got up and gently roused her from her dream. She looked up at him; forest green eyes alight with whatever she had witnessed. "Squirrelpaw, did you have a bad dream?" he asked, trying keep her gaze, which was flicking off into the distance.

"I know where Leafpaw is," she whispered, her voice quivering. "A StarClan cat, Spottedleaf, visited me and showed me where she is."

Shrewpaw's insides clenched as he saw her begin another plan to leave him in the dust, desperately trying to catch up. His amber gaze hardened and he said, "Squirrelpaw, you're just worried about Leafpaw. I would be just as worried if Spiderpaw went missing. But I'm sure you just had a bad piece of fresh-kill, StarClan knows that's all we have left."

Her green gaze snapped back to his amber eyes, blazing. He couldn't help but marvel at how her fierce gaze sent shivers down his spine, making the fur along it bristle. "No way!" she snapped, a force like that of being hit by a monster making Shrewpaw take a step back. When a few of the cats next to them shifted, she lowered her voice to an angry murmur. "I know that this dream was sent by StarClan. And I'm going to go tell my father. Right now."

Squirrelpaw was pushing herself to her paws when Shrewpaw put his paw on her back, gently pushing her back down again. His amber eyes had softened as her fierce green ones shot to them again. "It's the middle of the night, Squirrelpaw," he explained calmingly. "You can tell him in the morning. I'm sure Leafpaw will still be there whether you go now or then."

Squirrelpaw's forest green eyes slid down to the smooth rocks beneath her paws, realizing that he wouldn't let her go without a fight. Then they shot back to meet amber, just as fierce as before. "Fine," she spat dryly. "But if Leafpaw isn't there when we get there, I'll…" she trailed off, not sure what she'd do.

The dusky brown tom sighed, knowing he could not stop her from getting away from him again, like a troublesome piece of prey. He lay down next to her again, amber eyes narrowed to slits as he watched her, to make sure that she didn't try to escape. She sighed, but curled up next to him again. He silently watched, not falling asleep until the rise and fall of her chest slowed to a deep rhythmic pattern.

When he awoke the next morning, he was scarcely surprised to feel her fire flickering next to him. He slowly got to his paws, making sure not to wake her as he got up. He moved to wake her up, but he hesitated. If he woke her up, there was no guarantee that he'd see her again when she went off on a wild goose chase brought on by a dream. And, he convinced himself, she needed as much rest as she could get after being back from her journey. So, instead of waking her up, he moved off to the side and began to wash himself, one eye on her.

Then, when the sun was almost at its highest, Squirrelpaw stirred, eyes blinking open lazily in the light. Then she stiffened, her dream flooding back to her. Her head shot up and Shrewpaw stopped mid lick, amber eyes flitting to the ginger she-cat, afraid and excited about what she'd do. Annoyed green eyes flicked in his direction, brimming with unsaid emotions.

"Why didn't you wake me up!" she said, nearly yowling like a hurt kit.

His amber eyes betrayed no emotion except for mild surprise. "I just thought you needed sleep, that's all."

Her eyes flared with barely contained flames, sending a guilty wave of satisfaction through Shrewpaw. He was glad he had brought out her anger, her fire, just to see the fierce emotions that churned beneath her ginger pelt.

"Where's my father?" she asked between clenched teeth, claws scraping against the rock beneath them.

Shrewpaw shrugged coyly, not helping but revel in her rage. "I don't know. Last time I saw him he was heading a patrol."

"Where?" her patience wearing thin.

"I think they may have gone to Snakerocks."

Squirrelpaw's hiss of annoyance made Spiderpaw, Mousefur, and Cloudtail look over at them, interrupted from gathering a patrol of their own. She stormed off in the direction of the Snakerocks.

It was almost nightfall when the group of rescuers returned from the raid on the Twoleg's stash of pilfered cats. Shrewpaw's gaze worriedly searched the crowd of pelts and faces for Squirrelpaw's pelt of flames. He found her, off to the side, with Leafpaw, Bramblelcaw, and a new cat Shrewpaw couldn't identify. A plump brown tabby. Her nervous blue eyes fluttered around the clan, like a sparrows frantic wing beats.

Shrewpaw shrugged and ignored them, heading off to talk with Spiderpaw.

It was no more than a day after the raid on the Twoleg's. Shrewpaw was stealthily stalking through the sparse undergrowth, when a fluttering of wings caught his attention. A pheasant's dappled feather's glinted in the sunlight, its delectable meat just beneath them. Shrewpaw's eyes focused intently on his prey, not noticing that the bird was in the middle of the Thunderpath.

Then Shrewpaw rocketed out of the undergrowth, his claws just grazing its featherless feet. Then he landed on hard ground, his paws throbbing. The scent of the Thunderpath hit him next, his fur beginning to rise. There was a loud roaring in his ears, then no more.

His silent shape glinted softly as he watched his mentor, Thornclaw, place his torn body in the middle of the makeshift camp. Shrewpaw felt like yowling his grief when his mother, Ferncloud, screamed in pain and horror as she saw her son's crumpled form, tears rolling down her cheeks.

And what broke his heart even more was the sight of Squirrelpaw, eyes widened in horror, as she toke in the body. Her head slumped down, not wanting to look at it any more. She padded over to his body, pressed her nose into his dusky fur. Tears blurred her vision and she forced herself to look away, her terror at seeing her clanmates body overwhelming her.

Shrewpaw sighed, hearing StarClan calling him away. He turned to walk into the stars, but he hesitated. He looked back one more time. I will wait for you, Squirrelpaw, he vowed silently.

He toke one more look at the fire, slightly dulled by grief. And his heart gave a painful tremor as he saw ginger fur melding with dark tabby and forest green eyes meeting with shining amber ones.

But will you wait for me?


End file.
